Winging it in the White House

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Stockard Channing was pretty much the last to find out
that she would be playing America's famous fictional first lady,
writes Ed Bark.

TheWest Wing had already premiered in the US
when creator Aaron Sorkin finally decided that viewers should meet
the wife of Martin Sheen's President Josiah Bartlet.

Stockard Channing, on the East Coast preparing to begin work on
another project, had to "make an instant decision" after an
incomplete script suddenly landed in her lap. She winged her way
back to Hollywood, was outfitted with an evening gown, and then
spotted a tuxedoed Sheen "sneaking a cigarette" during a break from
shooting episode seven of West Wing's inaugural 1999-2000
season. She had never met the famed activist actor.

"I went over and introduced myself," Channing recalls. She then
asked him, "We have three children, right?"

"Three daughters," Sheen replied, just before the director
barked "action".

Thus began the life of first lady Abigail Bartlet, who it could
be said has supplanted tart-with-a-heart Betty Rizzo (Grease) as
the signature role of the 60-year-old actress' long career.

"So much for preparation," she says. "Sometimes you're just
thrown into the water and it's a very big pool."

TheWest Wing, winner of the Emmy Award for
best drama in each of its first four seasons, is under a new
administration this year. Sorkin, notorious for turning in scripts
at the literal last minute, left the show last year. John Wells
(ER, Third Watch) is the new overseer, and Channing
approves.

"It's been a pretty seamless transition, and I think a healthy
one," she says. "We were getting to a point where there was a sort
of pattern and a style that was choking us a little bit. So it had
to be pruned and shaped to improve the health of the tree. We were
getting a little tangled up with ourselves. And so far, so
good."

TheWest Wing's ratings have fallen, however,
and in particular it started losing younger viewers, those most
appealing to advertisers.

"We're absolutely satisfied creatively but in terms of its
ratings performance, obviously we would like it to do better," NBC
entertainment president Jeff Zucker says.

NBC's deal with The West Wing expires soon and no other
announcement has yet been made.

Channing says network TV's obsession with younger viewers is
"the way of the world. Some great shows close out of town. We've
been lucky to get into town and have a good run. I just hope we go
out strong. The rest of the stuff, you can't do anything
about."

The West Wing did last long enough for Sheen to be
playing a president on TV while also playing an active role in
Democratic presidential politics. Four years ago, he campaigned for
Al Gore. Good for him, in Channing's view.

"It's a very curious thing being an actor now, much less an
actor in a show like this," she says. "There's got to be so much
backlash about actors standing up and speaking their minds. Some of
us are pretty intelligent, pretty well-informed.

"I don't always agree with Martin on everything that he stands
up for. But I respect him for his activism and his energy. And his
heart is in the right place.

"Actors are also citizens of this country, and we have the right
to speak our minds."